Thorts of Mankind (BNE/Melbs/WA)

March 17th, 2009 | By YouDee

BNEsFinest got the chance to catch up with Thorts of Mankind, Field Trip and Hungry Humans to talk about the release of the new release with Brisbane’s own V. See what he has to say about hip-hop and Brisbane.

How did you come together with V?

I met V online in about 2004 I think, I use to talk to DCE a bit back then and was tryna hit him up for beats so he put me onto his mate V and we made a track together called “dreamz” for this Lifestyles compilation. Then we worked on a couple of tracks together for V’s album and we just kept working with each other from there.

You come across as a normal person instead of pushing a persona in your music. How important is it to be yourself on the mic?

Well I don’t want to put out some false image on the mic about who I am and what I represent. It’s very important to me to just be myself. I use hip hop solely as a form of self expression and that’s it.

Give us a little insight in to your hip-hop history. What have you done previous to the Mankind release?

I started mc’ing in 1995 when I lived in Mooroopna in country Victoria but didn’t start taking it seriously until about 1998 when I lived in Redcliffe (brizvegas). Since then I’ve been in a few crews/groups Manifest, WYS (Watch Ya Step), the Alliance. Was on the radio a lot back in 99-2000 down in Melbourne and then in 2004 me and my mate 86 released a self titled EP under the name of field trip that was my first proper release. Since then I’ve featured on some mates album and compilations but nothing to full on until now.

What is the meaning/reasoning behind the name Mankind?

It’s just a name I thought of and I thought it sounded dope. I thought it summed up who we were mankind.

Have you had much contact with the Brissy Hip-Hop Scene?

Well I lived in Redcliffe for about 4 years from when I was 16 to 20. I had a radio show on the community station there but other than that and going into Rocking Horse records I didn’t really meet anyone actively involved in the scene back then. It wasn’t until I moved back down to Victoria that I got involved with other artists. So no not really, I wish I did though.

What Brissy rappers have you heard and who are you feeling?

Back in the day I was a huge Decipher fan. I use to bump that “Blurred Visionaries” cassette every god dam day it’s still one of my favourites. I’ve always been a Lazy Grey fan, Shin-Ki-Row. At the moment I really like Rainman’s album and the 750 Rebels new stuff is dope.

What do you think of the state and direction of Aussie Hip-Hop?

I see it’s getting rather big now and there are so many people involved with it these days. When there’s growth like that there’s always going to be positives and negatives but I couldn’t really care too much about the negatives. I really just focus on what I’m doing myself and keep making what makes me happy.

How does putting together a project working directly with a producer differ from working on a solo outing?

It was hard in some ways with the distance between us as we couldn’t really sit down together and talk things through but the net makes it easier these days. Yeh it was a long process with me working on my Rhymes and Dave on production. We pretty much just let each other go with our own side of things so it wasn’t too bad really. V’s a top notch producer and I had faith in him to do a really good job, he came through with the goods.

When can we expect a Mankind/Thorts/Hungry Humans show in Brissy?

I would love to do a show in Brizzy. The only thing holding me back at the moment is time and money. I still have to work 50 hours a week at my job and yeh all that jazz. If anyone wants to help out me and some boys to come up holla!

What’s next? What projects have you got coming up?

I’m currently working on a solo album with a few different producers down here and I got something else lined up after that as well. I’ll always have something in the works; it’s never going to stop for me. I’m also on a few albums that are going to drop real soon from Class A, Raven and Crixus so keep an ear out for those releases.

Anything else you’d like to add?

If you haven’t picked up Autism “5 tracks of Adrenaline”, Fatty Phew “23 Years in the Making”, Lost Soulz “Conveyor Belt”, Field Trip “Self Titled” EP, Dave V “V” and Esvee “Sovereignty” go and get them. Keep an ear out for Class A, Crixus, Raven and all Hungry Human albums in the near future. Oh yeah and Thorts of course. Haha peace.